"Do your people find many of these pebbles, Soa?" he asked, "and if so, where do they find them?"
"Yes, White Man, they find many, though few of such a size as this. They dig them out of a dry river–bed in some spot that is known to the priests only, and with them other beautiful stones of a blue colour."
"Sapphires probably," said Leonard to himself: "they generally go together."
"Every year they dig them," she went on, "and the biggest of those that are found in their digging they bind upon the brow of her who is to be offered as a wife to the god Jal. Afterwards, before she dies, they take the gem from her brow and store it in a secret place, and there in that secret place are hidden all those that have been worn by the victims of countless years. Moreover the eyes of Jal are made of such stones, and there are others.
"This is the legend of my people, White Man, that Jal, God of Death and Evil, slew his mother, Aca, in the far past. There where the stones are found he slew her, and the red gems are her blood, and the blue gems are her tears which she shed praying to him for mercy. Therefore the blood of Aca is offered to Jal, and so it shall be offered till Aca comes again to drive his worship from the land."
"A nice bit of mythology, I am sure," said Leonard. "Our old friends the Darkness and the Dawn in an African shape, I suppose. But listen to me, mother. This stone, if it is genuine, is worth many ounces of gold, but there are other stones so like it that none who are not learned can tell the difference, and if it be one of these it is of little value. Still it may happen that this, and the others of which you speak, are true rubies; at any rate I should be willing to take my chance of that. But now, tell me, what is your plan? This is a very pretty story, and the rubies may be there, but how am I to get them?"
"I have a plan, White Man," she answered. "If you will help me, I offer to give you that stone, which I have borne hidden about me for many years, tellings its story to none, no, not even to Mavoom. I offer to give it to you now if you will promise to attempt the rescue of my mistress, for I know by your eyes that if once you promise you will not desert the quest;" and she paused, looking at him keenly.
"Very well," said Leonard, "but considering the risks the price does not seem quite good enough. As I told you, this stone may be worth nothing: you must make a better bid, mother."
"Truly, White Man, I have judged you well," answered Soa with a sneer; "also you are wise: little work for little wage. Listen now, this is the pay I proffer you.
"If you succeed, and the Shepherdess is saved alive from the grip of the Yellow Devil, I promise this on her behalf and on my own: that I will guide you to the land of the People of the Mist, and show you a way to win for yourself all those other countless stones that are hidden there."
"Good," said Leonard, "but why do you promise on behalf of your mistress and yourself? What has she got to do with it?"
"Without her nothing can be done, White Man. This people is great and strong, and we have no force with which to conquer them in war. Here craft must be your spear."
"You must speak more clearly, Soa. I cannot waste time in guessing riddles. How will you conquer this people by craft, and what has Miss Rodd, whom you name the Shepherdess, to do with the matter?"
"That you shall learn by–and–by, after you have rescued her, White Man; till then my lips are shut. I tell you that I have a plan, and this must be enough, for more I will not say. If you are not content, let me go to seek help elsewhere."
Leonard thought a moment, and seeing that she was determined not to be more explicit, said:
"Very well, then. And now how am I to know that your mistress will fall in with this scheme?"
"I answer for her," said Soa, "she will never go back upon my word. Look you, White Man, it is not for a little thing that I would have told you this tale. If you journey to the land of the People of the Mist, I must go with you, and there, should I be discovered, my death waits me. I tell you the tale, or some of it, and I offer you the bribe because I see that you need money, and I am sure that without the chance of winning money you will not hazard your life in this desperate search. But I love my mistress so well that I am ready to hazard mine; ay, I would give six lives, if I had them, to save her from the shame of the slave. Now, White Man, we have talked enough; is it a bargain?"
"What do you say, Otter?" asked Leonard, thoughtfully pulling at his beard, "you have heard all this wonderful tale and you are clever."
"Yes, Baas," said the dwarf, speaking for the first time, "I have heard the tale, and as for being clever, perhaps I am and perhaps I am not. My people said that I was clever, and that is one of the reasons why they would not have me for a chief. If I had been clever only, they could have borne it, they said, or if I had been ugly only, but being both ugly and clever I was no chief for them. They feared lest I should rule them too well and make all the people to be born ugly also. Ah! they were fools; they did not understand that it wants someone cleverer than I to make people so ugly."
"Never mind all that," said Leonard, who understood however that the dwarf was talking thus in order to give himself time to think before he answered. "Show me your mind, Otter."
"Baas, what can I say? I know nothing of the value of that red stone. I do not know whether this woman, of whom my heart tells me no good, speaks truth or lies about a distant people who live in a fog and worship a god shaped as I am. None have ever worshipped me, yet there may be a land where I should be deemed worthy of worship, and if so I should like to travel in that land. But as to the rescue of this Shepherdess from the Nest of the Yellow Devil, I do not know how it can be brought about. Say, mother, how many of the men of Mavoom were taken prisoners with your mistress?"
"Fifty of them perchance," answered Soa.
"Well now," went on the dwarf, "if we could loose those men and if they are brave we might do something, but there are many if's about it, Baas. Still if you think the pay is good enough we can try. It will be better than sitting here, and it does not matter what happens. Every man to his fate, Baas, and fate to every man."
"A good motto," said Leonard. "Soa, I take your offer, though I am a fool for my pains. And now, with your leave, we will put the matter into writing so that there may be no mistake about it afterwards. Get a little blood from the buck's flesh, Otter, and mix gunpo water with it; that will do for ink if we add some hot water."
While the dwarf was compounding this ominous mixture Leonard sought of paper. He could find none; the last had been lost when the hut was blown away on the night of his brother's death. Then he bethought him of the prayer–book which Jane Beach had given him. He would not use the fly–leaf, because her name was on it, so he must write across the title–page. And thus he wrote in small, neat letters with his mixture of blood and gunpowder straight through the Order of Common Prayer:—
"Agreement between Leonard Outram and Soa, the native woman.